Knitting Needle Substitution

Many patterns use more than 1 knitting needle size but only give tension for the main knitting needle size e.g. a smaller size will be used for ribbing. If you've had to change the needle size to get the correct tension how can you estimate the other needle size? Simply fill in the details below and our knitting needle size calculator will calculate the best needle size to try. You will need to supply the needle sizes in mm.

Needle size in mm recommended in the pattern to get tension

Actual needle size in mm that gave you the correct tension

Secondary needle size in mm recommended in the pattern

Your secondary needle size in mm

UK & Canadian Size

Metric Size in mm

USA Size

14

2.0

0

13

2.25

1

12

2.75

2

11

3.0

–

10

3.25

3

–

3.5

4

9

3.75

5

8

4.0

6

7

4.5

7

6

5.0

8

5

5.5

9

4

6.0

10

3

6.5

10.5

2

7.0

–

1

7.5

–

0

8.0

11

00

9.0

13

000

10.0

15

Knitting Yarn Calculator

If you are planning to substitute the pattern's recommended yarn you'll need to calculate how many balls of substitute yarn you will need. You'll need to know the amount of yarn in each ball of the recommended yarn and your substitute yarn. If you can't find the information you need from the pattern or ball bands then yarndex.com is a useful site for finding this information.